Ken Griffey Jr. has announced his retirement effective immediately, reports John Hickey of AOL FanHouse. He did not report to Safeco Field for the Mariners' game against the Twins tonight, saying "it's over." Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times provides a transcript of Griffey's statement.
Griffey has been in the news quite a bit this season, but not for the reasons the team hoped. There was talk that the Mariners could release him last month following an incident in which he slept through a pinch hitting appearance, and overall he hit just .184/.250/.204 on the year.
Regardless of what happened in 2010, Griffey was one of the greatest players to ever play the game. He retired as a .284/.370/.538 career hitter with 630 homers, good the fifth most all time. During his prime years from 1993-1998, Griffey hit .300/.388/.620 and played a Gold Glove caliber center field, which is the definition of a superstar.
After spending the first 11 seasons of his career in Seattle, Griffey was traded to the Reds for a four player package headlined by Mike Cameron. He signed a nine year, $116.5MM contract shortly thereafter, though his time in Cincinnati was plagued by injury. After a short stint with the White Sox, Griffey returned to the Mariners last season.
Junior earned more than $151MM during his career according to Baseball-Reference.com. The next stop for him is Cooperstown.
Ken Griffey Jr. – injuries= best player ever
Ken Griffey Jr. – injuries= best player ever
WHAT YOU MENT TO SAY….
GEORGE KENNETH GRIFFEY JR + INJURIES = STILL BEST PLAYER EVER.
CHECK HIS CREDENTIALS BUDDY
haha if ur gonna make fun of my comment and call me buddy please do it with a valid point if you think he is still the best player ever ur crazy and if u really want me to “check his credentials” i will say that A Rod’s may be better as much as i hate the guy
Babe Ruth would haunt you, but he’s too busy drinking in baseball heaven.
Good for him, great career with the injuries, could have been perhaps the greatest without them.
The main event of the 2016 Hall-of-Fame, Ken Griffey Jr.
Ken Griffey Jr is my hero 🙁 greatest player ever in my mind
if he would have stayed healthy in cincy, he might be hunting down bonds for most HR’s ever.
if he was healthy he would have had the record. great career one of my favorite ball players of all time. he was an inspiration for all ball players for guys my age (25).
I think you meant to say Sadaharu Oh’s HR record. Bonds’ record would have been destroyed by a healthy Kid.
I hate to say it but it was time. Probably did it too late. Bad way to go out but at least it was as a Mariner.
Great career Kid, the baseball world will miss you.
My greatest memory of Griffey was when he hit his 500th career HR on father’s day and went into the crowd to hug his dad as he headed back to the dugout. Classy move by a class act.
1st ballot H.O.F.
Congrats on a great career Ken!
As an Angel fan, I attended numerous games between my team and the Mariners. I often found myself rooting against the Mariners. Although I am an Angel fan, I am an even greater baseball fan. Its amazing when a guy like Griffey Jr. comes along and lights up the field and the batters box. Even though I may have found myself frustrated watching him round the bases at times, I also found myself honored to get the chance to see a Ken Griffey Jr. homerun. I am honored to have get to say that I saw Ken Griffey Jr. play the game of baseball.
Nothing can quantify the amount of respect I have for The Kid. Through the age of steroids he was never tainted and played the game clean.
As a baseball fan I can speak for most when I say that the game of baseball will miss Ken Griffey Jr. the soon to be first ballot Hall of Famer.
Thank You Griffey!
thanks for everything ken , we’ll remember u
First ball game I ever went to was at Yankee Stadium, NYY vs SEA. Had seats right behind home plate.
We got in a little late and Griffey was batting third with runners on first and second. As soon as I sat down, The Kid annihilated a baseball into the right field grand stand.
He LOVED doing that!
Wanted to say something nice about The Kid, but honestly……nothing can be said that would do this talent justice.
75th Anniversary of Babe Ruth retiring.
The Babe is in good company 😉
KGJ, probably should get a nickel everytime someone utters the words “what if?”. What if he had not have been injured all those times, what could have happened. Even with having some of the worst luck imaginable, still hit the ball like a God. I feel bad for him going out the way he did, but I agree, its a blip on the radar compared to the numbers he put up. I wish him the best of luck, hope he remains with the game and teaches young hitters coming up how the rake, that would be a good ending
The worst part is that he’s not the only great player to be held back by injury. Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, and more. Those two really come to mind, but I know there are more. Injuries suck, and have held back some of the greatest players of all-time. Junior is definitely one of them. He still had a hell of a career, too.
Farewell to the Greatest All-Around Player and Sweetest Lefty Swing of my Lifetime – Sayonara Junior; You were GREAT for baseball and will be immensly missed – Sincerely, a non-biased Giants fan
As a Yankees fan, I loathed seeing Griffey in the mid 90’s, but he has had a personal effect on me over the years.
In 1996 I was in the stands on May 14th to see Griffey go 0-3 (a miracle it seemed) as part of Dwight Gooden’s no-hitter.
The next season my Dad surprised me with an autographed baseball he received from his friend who owned the hotel visitors stayed in when they were in town to play the Yankees.
Seattle was in town and the autograph belonged to what I was certain would be one of the greatest to ever play in Griffey.
He broke my heart when he crossed the plate in the 1995 ALDS, tortured me all series, tortured me for almost a decade and yet he’s still one of my favorite players ever. I hope if he ever did do steroids he never gets caught…Along with Jeter they might be the only White Knights in an otherwise dark era for role models.
I wish the best of luck to him and his father, both of whom had strong ties to Yankees’ history, indirectly and directly.
He is not the best ever because he did not outhomer entire teams and leagues, nor did he have a Hall of Fame pitching career before becoming the greatest hitter of all time like Ruth, but he’s certainly the best “clean” hitter of his era and could have been a top 10 player of all time without injuries.
Thanks for the memories Mr. Griffey, baseball will miss you!
Realistically, there’s almost no chance Griffey did steroids, as compared to others. You almost never saw him blasting homers 450+ feet.
Thanks Kenny for all the memories that you gave me as a kid growing up. You were truly my idol as a kid and you’ll forever be my hero for what you were on and off the field. The game needs more Ken Griffey Jr.’s. Truly one of the best to do it!
Good luck Griffey. you might’ve had the most pure talent of any player to play the game.
A great tribute would be a win tonight.
Major league baseball should let the Kid take steroids… its only fair. I mean he was doing clean, what guys who were taking the needle did and his body shut down because of it while they kept on going well past when they should have still been effective players (Bonds).
I’m obviously kidding but I just hoped for one more Griffey-like season in his later years because with all the accusations of players cheating they needed to see a healthy, productive Griffey.
For someone who loves the game as much as he does, this has got to be the hardest thing he’s ever done. I never soured on him in Cincinnati and was fortune to see HRs # 497, 498 and 499. I was lucky to see 498 and 499 as I took a trip to Cleveland for something else but had time to watch an Indians game (which the Reds were playing in). He belted not one, but two historic home runs, with 499 landing about 50 feet from me.
Sorry for the long post but when one of the true greats in the game retires, as a baseball fan, it hurts a little inside, almost like a bad breakup. Congratulations on a hell of a career Kid. Hopefully your love of the game keeps you in it for a long time.
Gotta love tonight. Griffey retiring and Galarraga gets screwed on a perfect game. I’m calling for the retirement of Jim Joyce right now.
I feel so bad for Jim Joyce right now…and even Galaraga, could have been 3 perfect games in a month span…thats insane.
HOF?? Does it even need to go to a vote? Griffey would prob have been the homerun leader if not for the injuries…but still he is one of my favorite players all time and one of the greatest to ever play. I hope he becomes an analyst or something.
it would have been nice if he’d started tonight and gotten a hit and then retired after the game, or after his walkoff hit last week, but still sad to see him go
. . . and now I’m officially old.
Sad to see him retire even though it was time.
I grew up during the 90’s and Griffey was the man then, it’s a good thing he retired though, he is still going out on top I think.
I would have given anything to see Jr go out with a WS ring this year. It wasn’t meant to be though. He couldn’t finish the year and the M’s just don’t look like contenders. If they turn it around somehow it would be an incredible tribute though.
During the 90s he was the Michael Jordan of baseball (and I’m comparing to basketball MJ not AA-sucker MJ).
Sad it had to end this way. Probably should have just walked away at the end of last year.
I remember when Jr took the field as a rookie…man the hype that he brought with him, had the internet been what it is today, Strasburg wouldn’t have a chance…The Kid defined clean baseball, with a swing that nobody could duplicate, he could hit the ball a mile and barely look like he had swung. I remember as kids everyone, and you all know you did it too, would stand in that box, bat a wavin, doin your best Jr impression. Thank you for all the great memories Jr and thanks for Playin the right way…
This guy was my childhood idol, thank you for everything!
The best of luck to the greatest player of all time.
Griffey also kicked off the modern era of premium, insert-driven, high end baseball cards.
1989 Upper Deck #1.
I once had a 50 year old guy come into the shop where I was working at the time with 800 of them in a long box. Friend of the owner. He came in just to show off. Wonder where he is now.